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Letters: Thankful for freedom | Mental health | Lessons in sustainability

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:00 GMT

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.Amid challenges, givethanks for freedomThere’s a lot of negativity, tension and pessimism in the world today. On this upcoming Thanksgiving Day, let’s be grateful for the freedoms that we enjoy, and often take for granted. And let’s be sure to remember and thank those who came before us; those who sacrificed so much to bring us to this day.As Americans, we have much to be grateful for. We have freedom, and freedom is everything.That all men and all women are created equal, and carry with them God-given rights to life and to liberty, is a truth self-evident to us, and a truth that should be recognized and assumed all around the world.Happy Thanksgiving.Pete CampbellSan JoseMandate mentalhealth educationI write as a concerned student at Evergreen Valley College to address the crucial need for comprehensive mental health education in Santa Clara County schools. Having witnessed the escalat...

Fentanyl found ‘all over’ baby Phoenix’s pink-flowered onesie; father denied bail on felony charge

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:00 GMT

SAN JOSE – The father of baby Phoenix Castro was denied bail on a felony child endangerment charge Monday, as new court filings helped explain the mystery of how the 3-month-old girl could have ingested a lethal dose of fentanyl while in her father’s care.A crime lab analysis found fentanyl “all over” the pink flowered onesie she was wearing when she died May 13, including around the neck area.At the bail hearing, several family members fought back tears as they read prewritten letters pleading with Superior Court Judge Christopher Rudy to keep Phoenix’s father, David Castro, in jail, stressing he still has visitation rights with his two older children, now 3 and 4, who are living with their maternal grandmother. The baby’s mother, Emily De La Cerda also died of a fentanyl overdose, four months after Phoenix’s death.Emily De La Cerda’s uncle, Ed Morillo, center, Pastor Randy Smith, center right, and others pray for baby Phoenix Castro, who died at three months old of fentanyl poison...

Rosalynn Carter’s hometown mourns a much-beloved global icon

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:00 GMT

By Bill Barrow | Associated PressPLAINS, Ga. — Linda Campbell decorated the Lions Club Christmas tree in her small hometown just as she would any other Thanksgiving week, but this was no ordinary Monday in late November.All around the town of Plains, neighbors mourned the death of their matriarch, former U.S. first lady Rosalynn Carter, while worrying about their patriarch, former President Jimmy Carter.“We’ve prayed for them every day for a long time,” said Campbell, 75, as another lifelong Plains resident, Lee Johnson, lowered the U.S. and Georgia state flags that fly in front of the downtown commercial district.Rosalynn Carter died at home Sunday after her physical health declined rapidly as she lived with dementia in recent months. She was 96. The former president, who is 99, has been in home hospice care since February.It was not immediately clear Monday whether Jimmy Carter will be able to attend the public services for his wife next week in Sumter County and...

Scare for Amazon driver kidnapped in East Bay by pair who smashed into work van

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:00 GMT

SAN RAMON — An Amazon delivery driver came away unscathed physically after two people kidnapped him and forced the worker to drive to two banks and pull out money from an ATM, police said.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Driver arrested in hit-run death of San Lorenzo pedestrian Crime and Public Safety | Teen charged with attempted murder in wild East Bay gang shootout on Halloween, but suspected killer set free Crime and Public Safety | Hit-and-run driver kills man standing outside disabled vehicle on Oakland freeway Crime and Public Safety | Bay Area businessman arrested in Venezuela just days after Biden administration eases oil sanctions Crime and Public Safety | Fremont man arrested for attempted murder in double stabbing Officers responded to the kidnapping Saturday about 4 p.m. and found the victim at the Bank of America in the 3100 block of Crow Canyon Road, according to a statemen...

Jury reaches guilty verdict in San Carlos beheading case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:00 GMT

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.REDWOOD CITY — Jurors have reached a guilty verdict in a notorious murder case against a man charged with beheading his child’s mother on a San Carlos street last year in front of several bystanders, capping a bizarre trial in which the defendant was accused of gaming his mental illness to dupe the jury.Jose Rafael Solano Landaeta, 34, of Hayward, was charged with killing 27-year-old Karina Castro on Sept. 8, 2022 not far from her apartment off Laurel Street on the Peninsula city. The jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and confirmed an additional allegation of using a sword in the slaying.After the primary verdict was announced in a hushed Redwood City courtroom Monday afternoon — eliciting loud sobs from Castro’s family and friends — jurors were asked to deliberate a series of aggravating factors, encompassing the domestic violence and other dimensions of the case, which along with the sword ...

Verdict reached in San Carlos samurai sword murder trial

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:00 GMT

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (KRON) -- A jury reached a verdict on Monday for a man who used a samurai sword to behead his ex-girlfriend in San Carlos. The San Mateo County jury found Jose "Rafa" Solano Landaeta guilty of murdering 27-year-old Karina Castro in 2022. Prosecutors said the 34-year-old Hayward man was driven by "vengeance."Castro was a mother of two daughters and Landaeta was the youngest daughter's father. Their relationship turned "toxic," his defense attorney said. The former couple sent each other menacing private messages over social media in the days leading up to the murder on Sept. 8, 2022.Karina Castro (Images via Facebook) Castro accused her ex-boyfriend of being a pedophile and rapist, trial evidence showed. When she threatened to post their Snapchat conversation publicly on social media, Landaeta responded by sending emoji symbols of ninjas with swords on their backs, evidence revealed.Landaeta refused to attend several key moments of his own murder trial. He was a ...

Jets starting Tim Boyle at QB vs. Dolphins on Friday in place of the benched Zach Wilson

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:00 GMT

Zach Wilson is out — again — and Tim Boyle is next up at quarterback for the New York Jets.Boyle will start against the Miami Dolphins on Friday, replacing the struggling Wilson.Coach Robert Saleh announced the decision Monday to go with Boyle over Wilson, who took over as the starter when Aaron Rodgers tore his left Achilles tendon four snaps into his debut with New York on Sept. 11.“A different style of quarterback,” Saleh said. “So, really it’s just an opportunity to see if we can do something with the offense.”It will be the 29-year-old Boyle’s fourth NFL start and his first since 2021 with the Detroit Lions.Saleh said veteran Trevor Siemian, currently on the practice squad, will serve as Boyle’s backup against the Dolphins, with Wilson the No. 3 quarterback.Wilson and the Jets’ offense have struggled mightily this season, and Saleh pulled the 2021 No. 2 overall draft pick late in the third quarter of New York’s 32-6 loss at Buffalo on Sunday.Boyle replaced Wil...

Broncos are still on a heater but have much to fix to rally from 1-5 start and make playoffs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:00 GMT

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Even though the Denver Broncos now boast the NFL’s longest active winning streak at four games, their Monday video review featured a lot more roasts that boasts.“It’s not really good,” coach Sean Payton said after watching the Broncos’ blooper-filled 21-20 squeaker over the Minnesota Vikings from Sunday night in which they were outplayed, outmuscled and even outwitted (with a fake punt).“They ran the ball better than us. They were better than us on third down. Better than us in the red zone. And in most areas,” Payton said. “Better than us in the kicking game.”He could have gone on and on, but he had to start checking off boxes on his long list of corrections that need to be made for the Broncos (5-5) to continue their winning ways.Among the cringe-producing moments was the unflagged hit on Vikings quarterback Joshua Dobbs on the game’s third snap by safety Kareem Jackson, who was returning from a two-game suspension for vi...

Israel battles Hamas near another Gaza hospital sheltering thousands

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:00 GMT

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces pressed their offensive against Hamas in northern Gaza on Monday, battling militants around a hospital where thousands of patients and displaced people have been sheltering for weeks, and where health officials managed to evacuate some of the wounded. A medical worker inside the facility and the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said a shell struck the second floor of the Indonesian Hospital, killing 12 people. Both blamed Israel, which denied shelling the hospital, saying its troops returned fire on militants who targeted them from inside the 3.5-acre (1.4 hectare) compound. The offensive came as 28 premature babies evacuated from Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital by the World Health Organization were transported to Egypt on Monday. Three others were transferred to an Emirati-run hospital in Rafah in southern Gaza, the Red Crescent said. More than 250 critically ill or wounded patients remain stranded at the compound that Israeli force...

Company that created ChatGPT is thrown into turmoil after Microsoft hires its ousted CEO

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:00 GMT

File - Sam Altman participates in a discussion during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit, Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, in San Francisco. The board of ChatGPT-maker Open AI says it has pushed out Altman, its co-founder and CEO, and replaced him with an interim CEO(AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)(AP/Eric Risberg) File - Sam Altman participates in a discussion during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit, Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, in San Francisco. The board of ChatGPT-maker Open AI says it has pushed out Altman, its co-founder and CEO, and replaced him with an interim CEO(AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)(AP/Eric Risberg) The company that created ChatGPT was thrown into turmoil Monday after...